When freight containers, for example pallets or shipping containers, are loaded into an aircraft, the surface of the freight deck must be free of obstacles. For this reason the locking hooks of common anchoring mechanisms are constructed pivotally so that they can be retracted below the surface of the freight deck. The pivoting of each individual locking hook is in the present practice done manually. Since in one freight aircraft there are installed up to some hundreds of such anchoring mechanisms, this is a time consuming and expensive operation.
In order to arrange the anchoring mechanisms in such a manner that they do not lie above the deck of the cargo compartment, it has already been suggested to provide guides for said anchoring mechanisms. However, these add weight and require additional room. To avoid these disadvantages, a further known suggestion (DAS) 1 531 387) provides for a cover which extends along the fuselage and is used to receive the locking members of the anchoring device. Same projects beyond the fuselage deck to the outside of each laterally outer longitudinal support. Projections are provided in the cover, which projections grip over the side edges of the pallets introduced into the freight compartment and secure said pallets against movement. This known device has the disadvantage that one often cannot fully use the deck of the freight compartment, because pallets of differing widths cannot be loaded.
The basic purpose of the invention is to produce an anchoring mechanism of the above-mentioned type which does not need to be retracted individually and again erected by the operators. Furthermore the anchoring mechanism is intended to permit the loading of the aircraft with freight containers of various widths without requiring changes in the cargo compartment.